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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Ipoh Hor Fan / Flat Rice Noodles Soup

Ipoh, is the capital city of Perak, Malaysia... famous for its culinary delights...

Hor Fan or Flat Rice Noodles Soup is one of them... The flat rice noodles from Ipoh is said to have a smooth and light texture ~ in comparison to noodles from other states...even beancurds taste better in Ipoh. Everyone believes that it has something to do with its magical water ...

Geologically, Ipoh sits on a limestone formation oops...a little bit of technical information here..., therefore the groundwater may have made a huge impact on the noodles, beancurds...and even for the Ipoh born and bred!! :) I can't vouch for the later.. I am not from there!!

Miss E has a penchant for Chinese and Italian cuisine (no other reason... other than it is less spicy!!), she bugged Mr H to cook her this dish... she once had it in the Oldtown White Coffee Restaurant. This is our version of Ipoh Hor Fan ... note: the noodles are not from Ipoh but from South of the River (Perth)...

Peel the prawns... put aside its heads, and the rest of the prawn shells into the stockpot. Heat up about 3 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Fry the prawns head until fragrance... and the oil turn into 'orangey' in colour. Strain the oil into a clean bowl and toss the fried head into the stockpot for soup base.

Add chicken frames and bring to boil again then simmer for at least 1 or 2 hours.. Cook prawns in the small pot using the same soup base... drained the soup back into the pot and set aside the prawns (once cooled ... sliced thinly)

Add salt, rock sugar and white pepper to taste. Drain the soup into another pot and discard the bones and shells..

Divide the noodles into bowls, top with chives, shredded chicken and prawns .... ladle the hot stock into bowls and serve...

8 comments:

Each time we travel to Penang we have to make a pit shop at Ipoh for their white coffee, popiah and this noodles. It has been a while since I had this. Thanks for sharing the recipe as now I can make it on my own :)

I am from Ipoh and the place to go is Hollywood dkt Ipoh Garden. YOu will have authentic Ipoh food there. And since it is Hollywood we are talking about be ready with pen and paper for the autographs of Uncle Lam the Char kuey Tiaw man and Aunty Lim the Che chong Fun lady. ;o)

I don't think they are still alive. Tu tempat I lepak2 masa tuition form 4 dulu and that was what17 years ago? They were then very old already. But the char kuey tiaw and other dishes remain as delicious as how they did them.